My dictionary app says:

Atheist (noun)
- a person who does not believe in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

- a person who believes that there is no supreme being or beings.

“Lack of belief” is intentionally misleading from an atheist perspective. Kind of like how Dawkins describes the appearance of design as an illusion; “yeah, I know, it really, really looks like x, but, I assure you it’s y. Take my completely unbiased word for it.”

quote:
ag·nos·tic noun
a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

You must have a liberal dictionary.

Mine says:
Agnostic (noun)
- a person who holds that the answers to the basic questions of existence, such as the nature of the ultimate cause and whether or not there is a supreme being, are unknown or unknowable.

- a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.

- a person who holds neither of two opposing positions on a topic:

If anything, I would say that a person who believes that something is unknowable more closely resembles a lack of belief in either of the two positions.

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I'd say I'm some combination of an apatheist and an antitheist. I don't particularly care if there's some deity out there, but I know that religion is bullshite.

I get it. You’re someone who really hates religion, but doesn’t care enough to provide evidence to support your claims. But, to claim on one hand that you don’t care, and then you “fight against” something that you claim not to care about, seems logically inconsistent. If you’re ok with that, then I’m ok with that.

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I've gone around with FooHamChoo in the past

Ok. Good. So you should easily be able to recall the evidences that you rest your worldview on.

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and no matter how the discussion goes, it ends with "I'm right and I have The Truth because my god says so." He isn't interested in honest discussion. He's here to proselytize and he's full of shite.

Foo is one of the very few posters on this site that truly has conviction in his beliefs, and consistently articulates the same biblically sound message. You may disagree with his message, and/or his delivery; but to question his intent or his commitment or his logical consistency is either willfully ignorant or simply dishonest.

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My only interest in participating in discussions with him is to waste his time.

Well, that’s apparently all you’re capable of.

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If I'm being honest, it's exactly what I said. The more I've learned and the more I've traveled, the more I've seen how full of shite religion is. Christianity isn't immune to that.

I think we should discuss this further. I think we could find some common ground here.

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I'm still a somewhat spiritual person, I just don't think it comes from the Christian god, or any others.

Ok. Let’s explore that further as well. Seriously, I would like to know the reasons behind these claims.

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Posted by Squirrelmeister

Member since Nov 2021

1927 posts

Posted on 4/20/24 at 1:20 pm to Prodigal Son

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Dawkins describes the appearance (by people ignorant of modern scientific theory) of design as an illusion

FIFY

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yeah, I know, it really, really looks like x

Not his argument

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but, I assure you it’s y. Take my completely unbiased word for it.

Also not his argument. There’s no word of his to take, unbiased or biased. He lays out the irrefutable facts, which convey the fact of evolution of species by means of natural selection and genetic drift. These facts have been peer reviewed and are accepted by the overwhelming consensus scientists, and these facts are what make modern agriculture and medicine possible. They can be studied and learned by anyone from an array of scientific papers, journals, and books with cited sources and results of experiments. No need to take Mr. Dawkins word as the ultimate authority. He isn’t our god.

You should try reading Dawkins’ published literature though… you might see for yourself that he shows countless examples of what he calls illusions and explains how life is not designed. You might learn something.

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Posted by DisplacedBuckeye

Member since Dec 2013

73521 posts

Posted on 4/20/24 at 2:31 pm to Prodigal Son

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My dictionary app says

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Mine says

K.

I'll stick with Oxford.

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I get it.

You really don't.

I'm not going to spend time engaging someone whose ultimate retort to everything is "my god says." If I'm going to waste my time on something, it won't be trying to pull some fundamentalist weirdo out of that mindset.

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So you should easily be able to recall the evidences that you rest your worldview on.

I can. You can also search it out if it's that important to you, because it isn't that important to me.

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Foo is one of the very few posters on this site that truly has conviction in his beliefs, and consistently articulates the same biblically sound message. You may disagree with his message, and/or his delivery; but to question his intent or his commitment or his logical consistency is either willfully ignorant or simply dishonest.

He's full of shite. I don't care how vehemently he believes what he's selling. Being zealous about something doesn't make someone more interesting.